So-called “Cowboy Corner” has become a very popular hang out spot between classes where students talk to their friends, pass time, and clog up hall traffic.

This area by the door north of the library media center sometimes gets so crowded that students cannot get around, and it causes a traffic jam. The corner is not as popular for younger students, though. Usually the students congregating there are seniors and juniors with the occasional sophomore and very the rare freshman.

Why this corner, exactly, and not one of the many other places in the school? Well, it is one of the more central places in the school and in the middle of all of the main classrooms. Star Valley is in the country with its share of cowboys, so when they gather as “cowboys” the place becomes “Cowboy Corner.”

When the high school was built in 1997 it seemed they wanted students to hang out in the commons area by the main offices, but that isn’t in the center of the school and too far from classes. Students don’t have enough time in between classes to do that and make it to class on time, so they choose the cowboy corner as the hangout spot instead.

Most high schools have areas like Cowboy Corner because students feel a connection to the school when they have somewhere they feel comfortable. GHS high school in Norwalk, Connecticut was reconstructed in 2013. They made sure to include a lunge area for the freshmen and a separate lounge for the other grades. They call it the CAC Lounge. After construction they noticed an improvement in students attitudes and behaviors, plus a jump in grades from the previous year.

Students like to relax, if even for only a minute or two, between classes and let loose. Cowboy Corner is where many do just that.